The Australian sharemarket closed at a record high, buoyed by an afternoon rally in index heavyweight Commonwealth Bank after the lender reported earnings that topped expectations.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 51.3 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 8535.3, with seven of the index’s 11 sectors trading higher, helping the gauge surpass its previous peak that it forged on January 31. Year to date, the bourse is up 4.1 per cent.

While a slew of positive earnings results boosted investor sentiment on Wednesday, a 2.4 per cent rally in Australia’s largest bank had the most impact on the sharemarket.

After CBA shares seesawed in the morning session, investors started to pile in after the analyst call, heartened by the bank’s half-year profit of $5.13 billion that came in slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations and low rate of delinquencies.

The shares closed at a record high of $165.98 and lifted the rest of the sector with National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ all rallying more than 1 per cent to close at $41.11, $34.65 and $31.23, respectively.

‘A lot of comfort’

VanEck senior portfolio manager Cameron McCormack said the rally showed the bullish investor sentiment towards the lenders, which account for around a third of the ASX 200.

“All [big four banks] are seeing very low delinquency rates, which is positive for the broader sector,” he said. “CBA reinforced that today. There was a lot of comfort that came through its results.”

The energy sector also helped buoy the market with Brent crude trading near $US77 a barrel on Wednesday after signs that US sanctions were hampering Russian crude supplies boosted prices. That help lifted Australia’s oil explorers: Woodside advanced 1.7 per cent to $24.91 and Santos, which has boosted its oil reserves, gained 1.3 per cent to $7.06.

Mining stocks remained mostly in the red as investors pivoted from resources to banks. BHP edged up 0.1 per cent to $40.14. News hit after the market close that NAB’s former chief executive Ross McEwan would succeed Ken MacKenzie as chairman as the world’s largest mining company.

Rio Tinto slipped 0.6 per cent to $119, and Perseus Mining posted the biggest loss, down 4.9 per cent to $2.74.

Stocks in focus

Elsewhere on the ASX, Suncorp rose 1.3 per cent to $20.62 after the insurer’s net profit jumped to $1.1 billion in the first half, up from $582 million, thanks to a one-off gain from the sale of its bank.

Computershare soared 15.5 per cent to $41.53 after the company hiked its interim dividend 12.5 per cent to 45¢ per share, on higher revenue growth and earnings improvement.

Evolution Mining rose 1.1 per cent to $6.29 after earnings per share rose to a record 18.4¢, and the company reported a 277 per cent jump in net profit in the half-year to December.

Bravura Solutions rocketed 18.6 to $2.74 after the wealth management tech provider announced a special dividend of 8.92¢, owing to a turnaround in financial performance.

And automotive parts supplier Amotiv dropped 7.1 per cent to $9.87 after net profit dropped 36 per cent to $33 million in the first half as margins fell from acquisitions and higher freight costs.